IRFU Announce Mike Ruddock to step down from Ireland U20’s
The Irish Rugby Football Union today (10th Oct) announced the Mike Ruddock (OBE) has decided to step down from his role as Ireland Under 20 Head Coach.
Mike (a Grand Slam winning Head Coach with Wales) has coached the squad for the past four seasons and under his leadership the team has steadily moved up the world rankings and achieved a 4th place finish at the last Junior World Cup in Auckland, Ireland’s best ever finish at a Junior World Cup.
During his time, the U20’s have achieved notable victories, while a large number of players have progressed to professional rugby, with ex under 20 players such as Paddy Jackson, Craig Gilroy, Luke Marshall, Marty Moore, Iain Henderson, Kieran Marmion and Jordi Murphy achieving senior International recognition.
In the resultant restructure to the Under 20s setup, Connacht Rugby’s Nigel Carolan will now undertake the coaching requirements of the team. Nigel, who has been the Connacht Academy Manager since 2004, will retain his role at Connacht. Nigel played professionally for Connacht between 1996 and 2000 before taking up a role as a Development Officer with the western province.
Nigel was an assistant coach with Ireland U20s from 2008 to 2010 which incorporated IRB Junior World Championships in Japan and Argentina.
Ruddock explained,
“I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with the Ireland under 20 team and it has been very rewarding. In particular our performances on the world stage have been extremely competitive and I am pleased to be able to hand over the reins knowing that the Ireland under 20 team is now a top 4 World Ranked Nation.
Around 10 players return with International experience at under 20 level for the season ahead and so the team is well placed to be successful in the next under 20 6 Nations and Junior World Cup tournaments.
It has been difficult trying to juggle the ever increasing demands of the age grade programme whilst coaching Lansdowne FC in the Ulster Bank League and now it’s time to concentrate on trying to add another UBL title to the one we won in 2013.”
IRFU Performance Director, David Nucifora commented
“The IRFU would like to thank Mike for his excellent contribution to age grade rugby. He has provided invaluable knowledge and experience over the last four years and we wish him continued success with his coaching career at Lansdowne FC”
“Nigel will be supported by his fellow provincial academy managers and we wish them well for the coming season.”
Nigel Carolan, said, “It is an exciting opportunity to be working with the top U20 talent from the four provinces. I am looking forward to working closely with the other provincial academy managers to maximise the potential of the talent at our disposal.”
